


Wide Awake

by Sira



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 06:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/619162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sira/pseuds/Sira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David Rossi follows an impulse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wide Awake

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks a lot, ufp13 for beta reading the story. I owe you sooo much.
> 
> All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

3,764 miles. 8 hours. More than enough time to admit to himself he was crazy.

He didn’t mind long flights. Never had. If he travelled for private reasons instead of business ones, he booked first class, ordered himself a glass of wine and began working on his latest book. Sometimes, he read; other times, he used the opportunity to lean back and watch a movie. Flying was equal to forced relaxing, a welcome opportunity to let the mind wander leisurely.

This time he wasn’t relaxed. Nothing he did worked – not reading, not a second glass of wine, not the movie whose title he hadn’t even caught. Somehow, it didn’t help he mentally called himself an idiot every five minutes. David Rossi being self-conscious? That would be a first – at least in the opinion of quite a few people. He could see Emily smirk, tease him without mercy. The thought had him smile, made him shake his head once more.

“Is everything alright, sir?”

A stewardess had stopped beside his seat, looked down at him, her voice soft.

“Yes, I’m... fine. Thank you.”

Was he? And if he was, would he be sitting in a plane to... do what? He wished he had stopped even a minute to wonder what he was doing. But analysing the situation, applying logic to this endeavour would have meant he had to realise it was impulsive and didn’t make any sense.

Three of his siblings had invited him to spend New Year’s with them. His mother had asked him if he was interested in cruising the Carribean with her. A former girlfriend showed up unexpected, trying to rekindle a flame that had died over a year ago. He had turned them all down.

Instead, he had decided to go to London on a whim, intending to find Emily Prentiss, not having an idea if she had plans or even wanted to see him. Hell, for all he knew, she could be anywhere on this planet right now.

He wasn’t an impulsive man, so why this sudden rush to go and find a friend he hadn’t seen in too long?

He smiled, thinking that Emily was the rare exception to most people he knew. She had promised to stay in touch, and she did. Sending the team postcards, sometimes small packages with a favourite tea or culinary atrocities like vegemite, she was present in spirit even though she had left to live somewhere else months ago.

The team functioned without her, work hadn’t changed much. Still, he felt her absence day after day. Her warmth, her humour... gone.

He smiled. No one teased him quite like her, took him less serious even when he thought he was important.

He looked out of the small window into the night, looked around the plane where most of the passengers were fast asleep.

What if Emily wasn’t there? Even worse, what if she was? How could he explain that he had come to see her?

When the stewardess passed him again, he ordered another glass of wine. Was he really becoming such a fool in old age?

Not old but seasoned, that was what Emily would say, wasn’t it? God, this woman knew how to drive him crazy even when she wasn’t there.

***

She had always liked snow, used to spent hours watching soft snowflakes fall to the ground. There was solace in a world that seemed pure and fresh. She knew better, had seen the very worst humans could do to each other.

She shook off the thoughts, cradled a mug of hot chocolate in her hands, smiled. How often did she pause to enjoy a quiet evening, doing nothing but let her thoughts drift? Especially tonight when she should be out partying. Wasn’t that what people did on New Year’s Eve? In fact, she could be attending at least three different parties tonight as well as an intimate dinner with a colleague who had been wooing her for months. She had declined them all. Her mother had called last week, had invited her to spend the night with her at some ball the embassy was holding tonight. Again, she refused, didn’t feel like the company.

She had never done what other did, hadn’t she?

With nothing to do, she thought back on the last months. To move, to start anew had been the right thing to do even though it hurt day after day. She had left people behind that were like a second family to her.

Her gaze wandered to the shelf on the wall of her living room. A bright pink troll had found a new home there. Obviously, Garcia had been of the opinion she needed something to brighten her days.

Then there was the picture Morgan had sent her. It was a shot of the whole team without him, taken during some meeting. He had photoshopped himself into the picture afterwards but so badly it looked faked from a mile away. It amused her time and again. She doubted the others even knew what he had done.

There were several other tokens from her former colleagues, all of them treasured.

She looked outside once more, wondered if she would ever stop feeling torn. Not for awhile, of that she was sure. The streets outside were almost empty only from time to time someone passed her window. This wasn’t a night for a leisure stroll. A cab stopped in front of her building, a lone figure getting out.

She didn’t care, her gaze being drawn by some fireworks in the distance. People never could wait until midnight, it seemed.

There was a knock at her door, and turning around, she frowned. She didn’t expect anyone, and she damned her heart for beating faster, her hands clenching nervously. Since Ian Doyle she had lost some of her nerve. Deciding to ignore whoever it was, she turned to the window once more.

It knocked again. And again. Damn, she didn’t want to see anyone. If this was Michael having problems taking no for an answer, she’d rip him a new one.

Annoyed, she got up, crossed the distance to her door in record time, opening her door just enough she could peek out.

“What the fuck?” was her first and heartfelt response.

“Good. I thought you might be elsewhere.”

“Good? Why shouldn’t I be home? It is you that shouldn’t be here.”

Happiness. Confusion.

Her emotions were spiralling out of control fast as she opened the door further, letting David Rossi enter.

He stepped inside, looking around her apartment, turning to her, looking like a lost puppy.

“I’m not sure why I came,” he said, shrugging.

This wasn’t the David Rossi she knew, the anal, retentive, fussy man, who liked order in everything he did. Although, he had his impulsive phases...

“Are you going to stare at me all night?”

“I’m... surprised. I didn’t expect you.”

She laughed out.

“Sorry, it seems I’m in shock. It’s good to see you.”

She stepped closer, embracing him without a second thought. It was a mistake as she felt herself shaking a moment later. She remembered his scent, the feeling of his warm arms around her. He made her think of home, of good times which outweighed the bad by numbers.

From one moment to the next, she felt homesick. His arms came around her, and he tightened the embrace.

“I missed you,” he said, and she heard the pitch in his voice.

“I missed you, too.”  
With the two of them, it hadn’t been love on first sight, but... Wait, who was talking love here? He was a mere friend. An attractive friend, but... He was older than she was. He was stubborn. Wait, wait... what was she doing here?

“You’re doing it again,” Dave mumbled against her hair.

“Do what?” she asked, pulling back just so she could look into his eyes. Another mistake as they were way too close, and she had always had a thing for his dark eyes, his sensuous mouth.

“Thinking yourself into a rage.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“I should know if...”

“Emily.”

One word, her name and she bit her lip. Here, she was mostly Prentiss to her colleagues. Not many called her by her first name and no one in the same tone of voice as Dave Rossi did.

“Don’t you Emily me,” she said but there was no force behind her words, just the lingering memory of another day, another time.

“What would you rather have me call you instead?”

His eyes were alive with mirth and... something else. This ‘something else’ should worry her, but it didn’t.

“Dave?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you come?”

Maybe her thoughts would quiet down if she heard him say it out loud, if he confirmed her suspicions.

“I really don’t know. I... was thinking of you. Booked a ticket. And here I am.”

“Here you are.”

She could feel his breath on her face and his arms around her. A shiver ran down her back, making her curse the involuntary reaction.

“I could go, you know.”

“Or you could stay.”

“I would like that.”

“Me, too.”

He leaned in slowly, giving her all the time in the world to pull back if she wanted to. She didn’t, knowing she would realise this was a mistake if she thought about it. She didn’t want to think. Not now.

When his lips touched hers, she felt sparks of pleasure shooting through her body.

She ended the kiss, their gazes meeting once more.

“I’m glad you came.”

“Me, too. And Emily, shut up now, will you?”

She laughed out quietly.

“Make me.”

He did.

 

End.


End file.
